The A to Z of Friends
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: [pre-GS] A little peek into that time on the moon when they were free from war and the best of friends.
1. K is for Kite

**A/N: **Written for the alphabet_prompt challenge in livejournal, using Table 2A – simple mathematics and the claim Kira & Athrun (friendship).

* * *

**The A to Z of Friends  
Prompt #011 – Kite**

'I wish there were birds on the moon,' Kira said wistfully, looking at the empty sky.

'Why?' asked Athrun behind him, carrying the kite.

The brunet quickly ran back to help. 'So the sky wouldn't be so empty.' He waved a hand, the other grasping a corner of their bulky parcel. 'I mean, it's all right at night, with the stars changing and all, but we don't see anything but distant planets and settlements in the day.'

Athrun didn't see what was so bad about that; the moon settlement was always a flurry of activity with old faces departing and new arriving by the day, so it was nice to see something calm and constant amidst that.

Kira however appeared to disagree. In fact, it was his idea to bring the kite out, made two years ago and then forgotten under sketches of simple computer programmes. The one at the top was his latest project, building on his previous success in a space-fighting RPG to create something that could be used to train pilots…or fashioning them from scratch.

Still, when Athrun unravelled the kite and let it blow in the wind, he thought he could sort of see the sky his friend longed for.


	2. U is for Union

**The A to Z of Friends  
Prompt #021 – Union**

'I don't want there to ever be another war,' Athrun said after their history class.

Kira blinked at him. 'Because you don't want people to die?' he asked.

'The world's a lot bigger than that, Kira,' the other said, not quite looking at him as he spoke. 'People die in war, but our entire way of life changes. The entire universe changes.' _The sky won't be the same anymore._ But he didn't say that last bit out loud.

'The entire universe is a big place,' Kira pointed out.

'You're saying you don't care what happens beyond us?' Athrun asked, glancing sidelong at his friend.

Kira shook his head. 'What can you do to change the world?' he asked rhetorically.

'This is the same Kira who jumps headlong into every backyard fight?' the other wryly returned.

Kira punched the bluenet lightly on the shoulder.

'But seriously –'

'I know,' the brunet said. 'I don't want a war either.'

They fell quiet, staring at the sky.

'I think, one day, I'll go to Orb or Heliopolis.' Kira squinted, as though he could see the neutral landmarks from his position on the moon colony.

'I think I'll come with you,' Athrun agreed.


	3. F is for Function

**The A to Z of Friends  
Prompt #006 – Function**

'Is it true birds die when their wings break?'

Athrun, who'd been tinkering with a few screws on his latest gadget, blinked at his friend in surprise. 'You did better in biology than I did; you should know that the function of their wings has no role in –'

'Not die in the physical sense.' Kira cut him off, exasperated. 'I know they've got nothing anatomically to do with it.'

'Then what do you mean?'

Kira paused his video. 'I mean,' he began again, 'that even when their wings are healed they're not he same as they were before. They don't fly as high or as far, or chirp as loud – or seem happy at all…'

'Birds don't feel happy,' Athrun pointed out.

Kira leaned back on his chair and crossed his arms. 'They can to.'

'Can't.'

'Can.'

'Can't.'

'Boys!' a voice interrupted, and the stern form of their teacher appeared beside their chairs. 'Do keep your arguments quiet enough so other people aren't distracted.'

The pair looked around, a little embarrassed from the attention they'd drawn to themselves.

'But – ' Kira began, pouting slightly. 'Birds _can_ feel happy.'

'Chemically,' the teacher said with a slight shake of his head, 'but not in the sense that humans perceive it.'

The two boys looked at each other. 'So we were both right?' Athrun wondered aloud as Kira restarted the video.

'But it's not chemical!' Kira exclaimed after a few more seconds of video. 'That should have nothing to do with it once their wings are healed.'

'Birds, and other animals, aren't like humans in that sense.' The teacher looked at Kira's screen. 'They cannot hope.'

'But what does hope have to do with it?'

Athrun was confused as well.

'Everything.' The teacher sighed, before turning away. 'And yet nothing.'

And then he left for another pair of raucous kids, leaving both Kira and Athrun even more confused.


	4. M is for Mathematics

**The A to Z of Friends  
Prompt #013 – Mathematics**

'I'm bored,' Kira grumbled as he threw down his pencil.

'Then keep working ahead,' Athrun said distractedly, scratching out his neat triangle and drawing a new one. 'Uhh, cosine is –'

' – length of adjacent over length of hypotenuse. And I finished the book yesterday.'

Athrun looked up in surprise. 'When did you get _that_ far?'

Kira thought for a moment, then shrugged. 'Little bits add up?' he offered, flickering through the sheets of messy hand-writing. 'How come you're not done yet?'

'Because I'm not a genius like you,' Athrun replied, without any real malice in his tone. And he truly didn't mind; he did his best, sure, but it was somehow comforting to be behind the shadow of someone better.

Kira, on the other hand, didn't even realise his position at the top of the class.

'I'd work faster if you're not staring at me,' Athrun pointed out.

'Oh. Right.' Kira picked his pencil up, before abandoning it again. 'But what do _I_ do?'

'Go get a book from the library or something.'

Kira wasn't particularly fond of that idea, but he went. Athrun managed to complete the question he was on and turn to a new one before the brunet came back.

And then he was distracted again. 'Kira! You can't write in a library book!'

'Oh, right.' And Kira dug in his bag for his exercise book.


	5. D is for Decimal

**The A to Z of Friends  
Prompt #004 – Decimal**

'C'mon Athrun!'

'But we'll get into trouble!'

'_Athrun!_'

Kira glared; Athrun held his arms up in surrender. 'Why is it so important anyway?' he ventured to ask.

'Because!' Kira looked about ready to stamp his foot. 'The plants are gonna die without that stuff the teachers use in the greenhouse! They're all wilted and black already.'

In Athrun's opinion they were too far gone already and Kira was fighting a losing battle. The only one at that, for the rest of their class had already given up on them.

He technically had as well, but he couldn't really give up on Kira. That didn't stop him from trying to convince the brunet otherwise though.

'We can plant new ones,' he suggested, 'and this time ask for the pesticide.'

'But the plants'll _die_.'

'Kira!' Athrun shook his head, exasperated. 'You know full well it's a lost cause.'

'So you're just going to let them die?' the other demanded. 'Without even _trying_ to help? And you wonder why wars go on.' Kira winced as soon as the last sentence slipped out of his mouth; that was a bit of a low blow, and they both knew it. 'Sorry,' he muttered.

Athrun sighed. 'Fine, but you're doing my share of the toilet duties if we get caught.' Because Kira had a point; if one person didn't help another, then how would it add up? Even if they were technically talking about plants. Plants that only Kira had tried to rear…

Athrun felt a stab of guilt and vowed to help more with the next lot. He was still sure they wouldn't survive, no matter what they tried.


End file.
